With her new, semi-nude advert for sports site Novig, the actor cements her reputation as the anti-woke poster girl. But is it real – or just provocation with a soft porn gaze?

Bear with me here, but I’m beginning to suspect Sydney Sweeney is a very fine actor. It’s a skill she has been recognised for in the past, of course, winning nominations for Emmys for Euphoria and The White Lotus, but I mean it in a deeper sense, related to her work in advertising rather than drama – can she do more than play a role? Can she make you feel what she’s feeling?

In her “controversial” new ad for the sports prediction site Novig (the scare quotes are because, when you’re begging for controversy this hard, you shouldn’t just be handed it on a plate), she adopts the garb of various sports. Her face, body, aspect, gait and mien are all carefully configured to amp up the erotic overtones to the maximum degree, and yet the feeling that beams out of each image is: “This is really going to piss people off, and I couldn’t be more delighted.” Her expression is so speechful that you cannot help but share in some of her hellion joy.

You can’t buy Dicky’s level of stupidity though it could be argued that Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo just have

Never in the field of British politics has so much been given to so many by so few. You’d have thought Nigel Farage would have wanted to explain Reform’s sudden windfall from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo himself. To bask in the glory of the donations from two down-to-earth, anti-establishment crypto billionaires. Men who know what it’s like to graft, who know the meaning of an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.

There again, Nige is keen not to appear as a one-man band these days and he could do with some downtime to enjoy his own £5m handout. And besides, he’s got a police investigation into Reform party funding to worry about. Even so, it wasn’t the best of looks to send Richard Tice out on to the morning media round. Dicky may have his talents, but he keeps them well concealed. His main talent is the unfortunate ability to make Honest Bob Jenrick sound trustworthy. But he does always leave you guessing. Is he being wilfully stupid or is he naturally that half witted?

Noel Gallagher told fans ‘this is history’ but the paper opted to review support act the Charlatans instead, as that band returned from tragedy

• News: Oasis announce 2027 tour, including return to Knebworth 30 years after historic concerts

Over two days in August 1996, Oasis played to 250,000 people at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire. Riding high on two bestselling albums, the concerts were seen as the crowning moment in their career.

The Guardian covered the weekend but Caroline Sullivan’s review concentrated on the Charlatans, one of the support acts. There was a picture of the Knebworth crowds on page 7, but the main review that day was of folk-rock band Fairport Convention’s Cropredy festival. There was also a review of the “anti-Oasis” Divine Comedy.

Graduates are leaving with an average debt of £53,000 – while entry-level jobs plummet. It’s time for politicians to stop burying their heads in the sand

It wasn’t in relation to university that I first came across the organisation Rethink Repayment, which campaigns for a fairer settlement on student debt. I was looking into the astronomical numbers of young people who still live with their parents. It’s now more than a third of young men and more than a fifth of young women, statistics that get even crunchier when you realise that “young” describes anyone under 35.

There were various reasons – some had gone home after a health crisis, some really liked their parents, some were battling unemployment, but the single unifying theme was student debt. Those on incomes too low to start repaying couldn’t make rent; those in the lower repayment bracket (an annual income of £25,000 or thereabouts, depending on your loan plan) still couldn’t make rent, because they were spending 9% of their income repaying. And those on more than £50,000 were keeping less than 50p in every pound they earn because of their marginal tax rate. It’s always been sold to students when they take on this debt that it won’t count against their mortgage raising capacity, which technically it won’t – but any affordability check by a mortgage company or letting agent will factor in the monthly repayments.

Enslaved African people were seared with hot metal brands bearing the royal crown, according to research by historians who have documented the monarchy’s centuries-long involvement in Britain’s slave trade.

The kings and queens most heavily involved were those who ruled after the monarchy was restored in 1660. The Register of British Slave Traders is the most comprehensive research project into the investors in the country's trafficking of enslaved African people. Its publication will further inform calls for the king to finally acknowledge the monarchy’s deep involvement in the trade.

In response to the Guardian’s reporting of the new research relating to the monarchy, a spokesperson for King Charles said he was 'grateful to all those undertaking academic work in this area and thus contributing to the debate about how such issues might best be addressed'.

• The royal crown branded on enslaved Africans: Britain’s monarchy and the slave trade

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Barney Ronay and John Brewin to discuss the weekend’s Premier League action

On the podcast today: Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Barney Ronay, and John Brewin to round up the weekend’s Premier League action.

Manchester City beat Manchester United at Old Trafford with a controversial Erling Haaland goal. Has the job of referees become too difficult for regular folk, and do we need Nasa scientists or data wonks instead at Pro Ref?

Plans to strengthen legislation already going through parliament might mean donors having to meet stricter UK residence requirements

Andy Burnham’s government could thwart Reform’s unprecedented £72m donations with retrospective restrictions on political donors that will include tough new residency requirements, ministers have announced.

In a move that is likely to set off furious complaints from Nigel Farage’s party, the government will table amendments to legislation going through the House of Lords within weeks that puts the legality of Reform’s latest donations in doubt.

Donald Trump dismisses attempts to increase controls on artificial intelligence as ‘sick conspiracy’

AI-linked stocks tumbled on Monday after the bosses of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX called for a slowdown in AI “reckless” development, citing fears the technology could soon run out of control.

Shares in the semiconductor designer Nvidia – the world’s most valuable company – were down 3.3% by market closing in New York City, while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) slid 4% and Micron Technology and Sandisk shares slumped by 5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index fund was down 0.5% by the end of the day.

Some of the arguments inconsistent with ‘available evidence, science and established physiology’, say pair

Two leading experts have withdrawn from Lucy Letby’s defence team over concerns about the “scientific credibility” of some of its evidence.

The former neonatal nurse is challenging her convictions for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England.

Man, who cannot be named to protect anonymity of his victim, admits scores of criminal offences

A man has pleaded guilty to drugging and sexually assaulting his wife over a period of 20 years as he admitted 60 criminal offences.

The man, who cannot be named in order to protect the anonymity of his victim, is in his 60s and before his arrest lived in Stockport, Greater Manchester.